Minaj fired back with a series of tweets in which she chided Tyler for criticizing her before her first American Idol episode had even aired.

She wrote: "I understand you really wanted to keep your job, but take that up with the producers. I haven't done anything to you. That's a racist comment. You assume that I wouldn't have liked Bob Dylan??? Why? Black? Rapper? What? Go f**k yourself and worry about yourself, babe.

"When Steven [first] went on Idol he was ridiculed by his peers and fans alike. Called a sell out. So what does he do? Ridicule the next judge."

Tyler was asked about the furore while appearing on Canada's eTalk on Tuesday (November 27) and admitted that he did not choose his words wisely.

"I apologize if it was taken wrong, Nicki... But I am the farthest from [being a racist]," the Aerosmith star stressed. "I am the last thing on this planet as far as being a racist."